My proper name is Tamara Johnson. For those who have previously met me thus far will know me as Tima. This is the Arabic shortening for my full name and I believe is more suitable to who I am as a human being. In my nineteen years, I have had the opportunity to live in three different countries on three different continents. I have also been fortunate enough to travel to twenty two different countries in my lifetime, and nearly two thirds of those I backpacked through this past year. The reason I feel compelled to express my history of travelling is because if you intend to understand me you must understand that I feel that my travels are the biggest contribution to the core of who I am. I fully expect to continue adventuring the earth as I will be closer to completing who I am through each culture that I experience first hand. I believe that living locally is the key to understanding the basis of a country’s fundamental identity. As I’m sure you can imagine, I have much to say about this wanderlust, but there is also more to the girl sitting at this computer typing letters on the keyboard. I would like to share my plan. The greater idea of this plan is that I haven’t figured it out yet. Feel free to call me out on it, but I don’t like to think about my own future very much, I like to leave much of my thinking to the imagination that doesn’t incorporate a timeline. So the plan that I am continuously fabricating has a base which is this; I want to help people. I also know that there are a lot of like minded people who want to do the same. There is a lot of work ahead, but I am striving to add my education at UBC to my life experience and see what can be produced. I hope that this portrays an accurate representation of part of who I am.

As for life narratives, I would like to bring a few specific people to light. The First is Chris McCandless, he was an every day American beyond our time. He was a spatial rebel in the way that he saw the material world in front of him and decided to defy society’s expectations by donating all of his life saving to charity after graduating from college with the ultimate goal to make it to Alaska and live off the land. Many know his story as “Into the Wild.” Though if you look into this, it’s not what led to his death (as admittedly could have been avoided with reasonable preparation and several minor changes) that I want to highlight, it’s his mind, and his perspective. So a question that I pose is this; How does an individual find it in themselves to overcome society’s norms and rise above to aspire for greater happiness, a more self aware being, and a broader perspective? McCandless as a voice, and as a modern philosopher of sorts is very inspirational in the way that he saw a flaw in society and defied what was expected of him. There are others like McCandless, for an example, Henry David Thoreau. These ideas that they idolized and shared are interesting to look into.

Thank you for reading,

Tima Johnson